CHANDIGARH: Three miscreants kidnapped a businessman in his Mercedes SUV at gunpoint from Sector 9 and released him near Elante Mall after taking a ransom of Rs 3 lakh and fled with his SUV late tonight.

MUMBAI: Aamir Khan''s big release this year - "Thugs of Hindostan" - is nearing completion as the superstar says the last leg of shooting remains, which will be wrapped up in Rajasthan by the end of next month.

LUDHIANA: Campaigning for the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections and byelections to two wards of the Payal and Jagraon Municipal Councils will end on Thursday (February 22) at 4 pm. There are 494 candidates in the fray from 95 wards of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana.

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 21

Campaigning for the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections and byelections to two wards of the Payal and Jagraon Municipal Councils will end on Thursday (February 22) at 4 pm. There are 494 candidates in the fray from 95 wards of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana.

The candidates of parties and Independents are conducting their campaigns by holding meetings, roadshows and door-to-door canvassing. As only one day is left, senior leaders are visiting wards to conduct campaigns for their respective candidates.

District Electoral Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal and Additional District Electoral Officer-cum-Additional Deputy Commissioner Neeru Katyal Gupta said none of the candidates could campaign after 4 pm on Thursday. She appealed to the candidates that they should follow the model code of conduct. Strict action would be taken against the violators, she added.

Polling would be held on February 24 and the results declared on February 27.

Voting for the Ward Number 17 of the Jagraon Municipal Council and Ward Number 5 of the Payal Municipal Council would also be held on February 24 and results announced the same day.

Poll code violations galore

The city is still dotted with flags, posters, banners and hoardings of parties which a violation of the model code of conduct. Though the polls are a few days away, the authorities have failed to ensure its full implementation. Besides, a large number of candidates are campaigning on the social media too.

A policeman guards the strong room at GCG in Ludhiana on Wednesday. Photo: Himanshu Mahajan

LUDHIANA: Workers of the Congress and the BJP indulged in stone pelting at Puneet Nagar on the Tibba road this evening after the Congress workers alleged that the latter were distributing blankets in the ward.

MANDI AHMEDGARH: A team of the District Vigilance Police, led by SSP (Vigilance) Rupinder Singh, has nabbed a clerk of the Cooperative Department for accepting a bribe for felicitating approval for appointment of salesman at the Jartauli Cooperative Society, Jartauli village, Dehlon Block, near here today.

LUDHIANA: A student of Punjab Agricultural University here has gone missing under mysterious circumstances. The police are on their toes to trace him after his car was recovered from the parking lot of the university.

LUDHIANA: A debt-ridden farmer of Galib Kalan village, near Jagraon, killed himself by consuming a poisonous substance at his house past night. The deceased has been identified as Malkiat Singh (55), a resident of Galib Kalan village.

LUDHIANA: The MC has so far failed to ensure lifting of segregated waste in a majority of parts in the city. It has even failed to place bins in most of the markets and public places in the city, giving it an ugly look.

LUDHIANA: Residents want the new MC House to increase the number of public toilets in the city, especially in areas where people visit every day. In the absence of public toilets, visitors have no choice but to urinate in the open thereby polluting the area.

LUDHIANA: The Election Commission is summoning contractual teachers and has deployed them on poll duty yet again, which is against the letter issued by the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, on April 4, 2014 (copy with The Tribune).

LUDHIANA: International Mother Tongue Day was celebrated at Punjabi Bhawan today. Students from different colleges participated in various competitions such as ‘akhaan’ and ‘muhavare’, poetry recitation and creative writing .

LUDHIANA: Students of PCTE Group of Institutes outshone again as Punjab Technical University disclosed the merit list of the year 2016 and 2017 wherein Jatinder Kaur Grewal from the pass out batch of the BHMCT-2016 and Abhimanyu Mehndirata from the pass out Batch of BHMCT -2017 bagged gold medals for holding the first positions in their respective years.

LUDHIANA: A job fair was organised at Government ITI, Gill Road. The ITI Principal, Jaswant Singh Bhattal, informed that the Punjab Government under its ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’ programme is committed to provide the best job opportunities to unemployed youths and this job fair was part of government’s initiative.

LUDHIANA: Students of Devki Devi Jain Memorial College for Women, Kidwai Nagar, Ludhiana, reaped a haul of 11 medals, including nine gold, in the All-India Inter-University Martial Arts Competition that concluded on February 19 at Talwara in Hoshiarpur district.

LUDHIANA: A three-day workshop on “Importance of life skills for personality development of students” was organised at the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) by the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Veterinary Science, for students of Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (first year).

MANDI AHMEDGARH: Several local organisations have felicitated Brampton MP Ruby Sahota as the ‘Star Daughter of Punjab’. The MP is a member of the Canadian delegation accompanying Premier Justin Trudeau during his India visit.

LUDHIANA: The delay in VAT refund has perturbed city businessmen, several of whom have not been paid for more than a year now. Many have lost hope of receiving any given the state government’s “empty coffers”.

LUDHIANA: The annual family get-together of Ludhiana Management Association (LMA) will be held on Sunday- February 25 at 10:30 am, at Hotel Nirvana. The entertainment studied programme has been named ‘Aao Dhoom Machaen”.

LUDHIANA: With an aim to give a big push to the cycle industry of Ludhiana the India International Cycle, Fitness & Outdoor Sports Expo (CFOSE) will be held from February 23 to February 25 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

LUDHIANA: Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit president and MP Bhagwant Mann said the Election Commission should ensure proper security during elections and set up CCTV cameras at all locations so that free, fair and peaceful elections could be held.

Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional District Electoral Officer Neeru Katyal Gupta said the National Election Quiz-2018, which is being organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI), can be useful to make people, especially youngsters, aware about elections and democratic system in the country.

LUDHIANA: Two groups indulged in clash and resorted to firing in Sector 32 on Chandigarh Road on Tuesday evening. One person is said to have sustained bullet injury, but no one turned up before the police to file complaint. The police have launched a probe in the case.

LUDHIANA: Paid holiday has been declared in all factories, shops and other commercial establishments on February 24 when the polling for 95 wards of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and bypolls of two wards in Payal and Jagraon Municipal Councils in the district will be held.

LUDHIANA: Following the complaint filed by Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) chief and MLA Simarjit Singh Bains, who on Sunday alleged that he was attacked by Congressmen led by Kamaljit Singh Karwal, the police filed daily diary register (DDR) report against Karwal, the Congress candidate from Ward No.

LUDHIANA: Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu stressed on deepening ties between India and Australia in agriculture sector, during her visit to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today.

LUDHIANA: Environmental activists have hailed the decision of the Punjab Pollution Control Board to award whistleblowers with cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, who would report the release of effluents from factories into the borewells.

Perhaps most important of all, given Le Corbusier's overall intentions in Chandigarh, was the so-called 'Open Hand' hovering on a mast like a gigantic wind vane, although the irreverent observer cannot help thinking of a base-ball glove.